A behavioral science workshop was conducted for the students of biotechnology

first year where they were given an insight to how critical thinking and problem
solving skills helps a person survive and thrive in a society and also how it helps to
stand apart in the crowd and contribute something different and good to the
society and its progress.

The workshop started at 10 in the morning with a brief introduction given by the
spearhead Dr Aanchal from AIBAS dept. After that she started off with the topic of
what problem solving is, a slide was shown to say which had a saying “All life is
problem solving” , we were told how every minute of our life we are solving some or
the other problem, from what to wear in the morning to how a math problem
would be solved we are constantly solving something or the other. But what’s
important is how well we solve it.

If we want a more productive life we need to improve our decision making and
critical thinking skills, this way we could have a better control of the
circumstances that surround us.

Now what does critical thinking exactly mean? Critical thinking is the ability to
analyze information objectively and make a reasoned judgment. Critical thinking
involves the evaluation of sources such as data, facts, observable phenomenon, and
research findings. Now why critical thinking is important is because it can draw
reasonable conclusions from a set of information and help discriminate between
useful and less useful details to solve a problem or make a decision.

She showed us an image where there are group of pigs jumping off a cliff one after
the other, this was shown to us to understand that while solving a problem or
making a decision we should be thinking from our point of view and be original,
following a herd make get us to a safe decision but not necessarily be a good one
for us. To elaborate on this a activity was conducted in which we were given a set
of words which had to be arranged to get a sentence with sense and we also had to
insert a vowel eleven times in the arrangement so it can form proper words. This
activity was done so that we understand that when we are given a problem we
need to think in every different way to come up with a reasonable result.

After the activity different points were explained which would help in good critical
thinking. The points were:-

 Rely on reason rather than emotion

This is one of the most hardest challenges faced while thinking, it is
easy of our emotion to overshadow our logical thinking. But we need to
think over the reason of the problem than the emotion associated to it, only
then can we come up with a reasonable solution.
  Evaluate a broad range of viewpoints and perspectives.
No matter how big or small the problem is we need to look at every
possible viewpoints so that the solution which be formed in the end would
not be lacking in any aspect or is causing an negative effect on anything.
Different perspectives can help evaluate our skills and can help come up
with very effective decision.
 Maintain an open mind and alternative interpretation.
It is not necessary that the side that you take to think is the only the
way. There could be various other interpretations and possibilities and you
need to keep an open mind and listen to them and evaluate where your
thinking and solution stands. After thinking over the other variations you
can make changes on your side. There would be constructive criticism that
would be there which you could use to your advantage and build a better
response.
 Accept new evidence, explanation and findings.
When you have come up with some result there is a good possibility
that later on there would be findings that would contradict your research or
a new explanation to your result, go through them and try a new research
through them.
 Avoid hasty decisions.
Never make a hasty decision, always take your time, go through every
possibilities & variations, carefully evaluate, think and then come up with a
decision or result. A hasty decision is never a good one.
 Support the conclusion with arguments.
Whatever result you come with always have logical explanations and
arguments supporting. This is required when you want to make the front
person understand your point of view, your research and the basis on which
you came up with the conclusion. This would avoid unnecessary doubts.

After this a second activity was conducted in which we were asked to write a
problem that we faced and how did we tackle it. This activity was an introduction
to the topic “IDEAL way of problem solving”. This involved the most accepted
stages of solving a problem.

I= Identify the problem

D= Describe the problem

E= Explore the solution

A=Act on the solution chosen

L= Look back and evaluate